Best Vegan Protein Powders of 2016

Whatever your reason, you want the best vegan protein powders available today and we have you covered.

We’ve curated and compared 50 different vegan protein powders readily available online. And best of all, we’ve compiled them all in an interactive chart for you to compare on your own.

Why Vegan Protein Powder?

There are countless reasons to supplement with a vegan protein powder. Here are a few.

Veganism. Vegans do not consume any animals or animal byproducts, including animal-based protein powders such as whey or casein. But vegans still need protein! And though most vegans get enough protein from protein rich foods like soy and beans, some don’t, especially new vegans. Adding a vegan protein supplement to your diet will make sure you meet your daily needs.

Dairy Intolerance. Whey and casein protein supplements are a staple in the fitness industry, but are derived from milk. Studies have shown that over 75% of the world’s population (and over 25% of the US population) is lactose intolerant.1 Consuming dairy protein products are very likely to give you gas, a bloated stomach, diarrhea, and other problems. You can avoid them all by switching to a plant-based supplement.

Health. If you’re not lactose intolerant, you may still want to reconsider dairy protein. Research by Dr. Campbell shows that large doses of casein (milk protein) have been shown to increase the size of cancer cells.2 Yikes! Cancer risks aside, another shortcoming of animal proteins are their lack of micro nutrients, which many plant protein powders are abundant in.

The 50 Best Vegan Protein Powders

Here’s over 50 of the best vegan protein powders organized in an filterable chart. If you need some guidance, take a look at our top 5 recommendations below the chart.

Our Top 5 Recommendations

For our top 5 picks, we’ve decided to look at the five major types of plant protein powders: brown rice, pea, hemp, soy, and a blend of everything. Although opinions will vary, we’ve detailed why we believe each of these supplements are the best vegan protein powders in their category. We hope you find our recommendations useful and insightful.

Sunwarrior’s Classic Protein is the best brown rice protein powder in our book. The protein is derived from raw sprouted and fermented whole grain brown rice. It’s naturally vegan, gluten free, non-GMO, and hypoallergenic. Each serving contains 17g of easily digestible organic brown rice protein. It also contains a balanced set of 9 essential amino acids that aid in protein absorption. Lastly, it comes in three flavors: natural, chocolate, and vanilla. One container should last you a little over a month with average use.

Best Pea Protein Powder: Naked Nutrition’s Naked Pea

Naked Nutrition’s Naked Pea protein powder is made from 100% yellow peas and have zero additives. It’s non-GMO, free from growth hormones, soy, dairy, and gluten. This is one of the purest pea protein powders available on the market right now. Each serving nets you 27g of protein! That’s a lot, especially for a pea protein powder. Each serving also provides 5.7g of branched-chain amino acids, necessary for efficient protein digestion and usage in your body. Each 5lb container provides you with total 76 servings. That’s 2,052g of protein per container! From a price perspective, it’s a great value per gram of protein when compared to many competing 5lb whey protein powder tubs.

Best Hemp Protein Powder: Nutiva’s Organic Hemp Protein

It’s a close match for the title of best hemp powder, but the winner is Nutiva (Manitoba Harvest came in second). Nutiva’s hemp protein powder is certified organic, non-GMO, has a natural 1:3 ratio of Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids, and contains 15g of protein, 8g of fiber, and 370mg of potassium per serving. On top of that, hemp is a complete protein, meaning it has all of the amino acids your body needs to properly breakdown and use the protein to repair and build muscles. It’s easily digestible and the extra fiber will help with digestion. The downside is its earthy and grainy texture might take getting used to, but this is to be expected with any natural hemp protein powders. Overall, we believe this is a great choice if you’re looking for a complete plant-based vegan protein powder.

Best Soy Protein Powder: Jarrow Formulas’ Iso-Rich Soy

Surprisingly, we didn’t come across too many soy protein powders. However, we did find a great one that we’ve used ourselves with great satisfaction: Jarrow Formula’s Iso-Rich Soy. We love it because it’s a simple protein powder. It’s made entirely from soy and is a complete protein! Soy and hemp are the only two natural plant-based complete proteins, which means they’re processed by your body more effectively than proteins with incomplete amino acid profiles. Regardless, this product is amazing because each serving has a whooping 25g of protein, matching many of its whey competitors. And unlike hemp powders, it has a nice smooth texture that blends extremely well with Almond or Soy Milk. In fact, adding a scoop of this to a cup of soy milk provides you with well over 30g of protein per cup (soy milk is high in protein). But the best part is, it’s extremely affordable compared to other types of vegan protein powders. If you want a quality protein with a complete amino acid profile and don’t want to break the bank, Iso-Rich Soy is for you.

Best Blend Protein Powder: Thorne Research’s MediPro Vegan

The reason we chose Thorne Research’s MediPro Vegan as one of our five best vegan protein powders is because it not only delivers 22g of protein per serving, but also acts as a multivitamin as well. It delivers a ton of micronutrients that many other protein powders are missing. As a vegan, you know that Vitamin B12 is important for your health. One serving of MediPro contains 150% (9mcg of methylcobalamin) of the daily dose of Vitamin B12. If you want to knock out both daily protein and Vitamin B12 intake in one shot, this is for you. However, there’s no mention of its use of GMOs or not, so take precaution if you’re looking for a non-GMO protein powder blend.